A medical worker collects a swab sample from a resident for nucleic acid testing in Ruili city, southwest China's Yunnan province, on July 5, 2021. (WANG GUANSEN / XINHUA)
BEIJING/KUNMING – The city of Ruili in southwest China's Yunnan province on Wednesday closed off its city proper and asked all residents to undergo home quarantine, as local health authorities said 15 newly confirmed locally transmitted COVID-19 cases and two locally transmitted asymptomatic cases were reported on Tuesday.
The city, with a population of approximately 270,000 people, said that schools will suspend classes, restaurants will only be able to offer takeout services, and all establishments will be closed with the exception of some markets, hospitals and pharmacies.
The city reported on Tuesday 15 newly confirmed locally transmitted COVID-19 cases and two locally transmitted asymptomatic cases, the provincial health commission of Yunnan said
The government will ensure necessities are supplied to the doorsteps of residents, according to the city's headquarters for COVID-19 prevention and control.
Two of the newly confirmed carriers were previously identified and asymptomatic, while the other 13 new cases as well as the two asymptomatic cases were detected during the city's mass nucleic acid testing campaign, the provincial health commission of Yunnan said.
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One imported asymptomatic case from Myanmar was also reported in Yunnan on Tuesday.
The city government of Ruili said at a Wednesday press conference that seven positive samples were sequenced and showed that the infections were highly homologous to the more contagious Delta variant that is spreading overseas.
Ruili, which lies along China's border with Myanmar, has been reporting new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases since Sunday.
By the end of Tuesday, there were 90 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Yunnan. There were also 16 asymptomatic cases, 14 of which were imported.
Reporters in Ruili said work at the nucleic acid testing sites was orderly as residents received notices to show up at testing sites at different times to prevent overcrowding.
Mainland sees 42 new imported cases
The mainland on Tuesday reported 15 new local COVID-19 cases in Yunnan and 42 fresh imported cases, the National Health Commission said in its daily report Wednesday.
Twenty-five new imported cases were posted in Hubei, five in Guangdong, four in Shanghai, two each in Tianjin and Shaanxi, and one each in Jiangsu, Fujian, Henan and Sichuan, the National Health Commission said
Twenty-five of the new imported cases were posted in Hubei, five in Guangdong, four in Shanghai, two each in Tianjin and Shaanxi, and one each in Jiangsu, Fujian, Henan and Sichuan, the commission said.
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Four new suspected cases were reported in Shanghai, all arriving from outside the mainland.
No additional deaths related to COVID-19 were reported, the commission said.
There were 458 patients still receiving treatment, five of whom were in severe condition, it said.
By the end of Tuesday, the mainland had reported 91,949 confirmed cases, along with 86,855 recoveries and 4,636 deaths. A total of 6,736 imported cases had been reported with no fatalities.
There were five suspected COVID-19 cases on the mainland on Tuesday.
On the same day, 41 new asymptomatic cases were reported.
By the end of Tuesday, 11,944 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 212 deaths, had been reported in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), 55 cases in the Macao SAR, and 15,088 cases, including 706 deaths, in Taiwan.
A total of 11,642 COVID-19 patients in the Hong Kong SAR had been discharged from hospitals following recovery, 52 in the Macao SAR, and 11,180 in Taiwan.
More than 1.33 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered across the mainland as of Tuesday, the commission said.